A synopsis of the story

This is a quirky and whimsical coming-of-age film set in 1970’s suburban Australia. Greta (Bethany Whitmore) has moved into a new neighbourhood and is about to turn 15. Life is embarrassing enough for her anyway, but when her parents (Amber McMahon and Matthew Whittett) decide to throw her a birthday party she feels completely out of her depth. As the guests arrive, Greta becomes overwhelmed and is thrown into a dream sequence that takes us deep into her imagination.

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some physical and verbal violence in this movie including:

There is a scene where Greta must fight the school bullies. This involves punching, kicking and damage to property.

The school bullies make a tape for Greta’s birthday party, with an abusive song about her, which they play to all the party guests.

Greta has an argument with a friend and calls him a ‘homo’, for which she later apologises.

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

Greta is bullied and humiliated by the popular girls at her new school.

Use of substances

Coarse language

There is fairly frequent coarse language in this movie, including:

deadshit moron

slut

you’re a frigid bitch

everyone says you’re a homo

holy crap balls

Mrs. Shitstick

In a nutshell

Girl asleep is an original, funny and warm look at the inner world of adolescence. It explores what it feels like to become comfortable in your own skin as you grow up and mature. Although the film is very quirky and surreal at times, the anxieties and fears about growing up which it portrays are universal and real. There are a number of scenes which are likely to scare younger children, and due to the film’s themes, sexual references and coarse language, it is best suited to teenagers.

The main messages from this movie are that things that make us feel anxious, uncomfortable and worried might not be as bad as they seem, and can be overcome.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include: